thing. michael moore back on "the beat" tomorrow. we're going to tackle something he's doing specifically with nbc on gone safety policy. that's one we're going to get to tomorrow. thanks for watching as always. "hardball" is up next. quid pro uh-oh. let's play hardball. good evening. i'm steve kornacki in for chris matthews. a stunning admission from the president's acting chief of staff today bolsters the accusation the president leveraged a u.s. ally for political purposes. it was in a press briefing today mick mulvaney said trump froze military aid because he wanted an investigation involving a dnc server in the 2016 campaign, undercutting the president's denial of a quid pro quo with

ukraine. specifically mulvaney said that aid was withheld in part because of trump's concerns about a missing dnc server that according to an unproven conspiracy theory is in ukraine and that the ukrainian government tried to interfere in the 2016 campaign here. here's what mulvaney said today. >> he also mentioned to me that the corruption related to the dnc server, absolutely. no question about that. but that's it, and that's why held up the money. >> there was a demand for an investigation into the democrats was part of it reason he wanted to with hold funding to ukraine? >> the look back to what happened in 2016 was certainly part of what he was worried about corruption within that nation. >> you just described a quid pro quo. it is funding will not flow unless the investigation into the democratic server happened as well.

>> we do that all the time with foreign policy. and i have news for everybody, get over it. there's going to be political influence in foreign policy. >> what mulvaney is referring to, the idea ukraine is holding a missing server has been called, quote, completely debunked by trump's own homeland security director who's also said he personally warned trump to drop the matter. it was one of two political requests president trump made of president zelensky in july. what mulvaney said today could carry big implications for the president and clearly alarmed. trump's outside attorney said today the president's legal counsel was not involved ipacting chief of staff mick mulvaney's press briefing. and just an hour ago mulvaney tried to take it all back. in a new statement he said this, quote, there was never any condition on the flow of the aid

related to the matter of the dnc server. problem is that would seem to be a contradiction of what he said just hours earlier. >> did he also mention to me in the past the corruption related to the dnc server, absolutely. no question about that. that's it. that's why we held up the money. >> it is funding will not flow unless the investigation into the democratic server happened as well. >> we do that all the time with foreign policy. >> this comes a key witness in the impeachment inquiry today pointed a finger at himself. gordon sondland inu.s. ambassador to the eu told congress in his deposition president trump directed him to work with giuliani to push ukraine to deliver dirt on his political opponents. joining me now a member of the house intelligence committee, a white house correspondent for the pbs news hour, josh

letterman, nbc news national political reporter and former u.s. attorney joyce vance. congressman, let me start with you on this news. in the last hour we read from the statement there, mick mulvaney is saying there was no held up for anything to do with the server, the 2016 campaign. you heard what he said earlier. can you square those two statements in any way? >> no, i think he was telling us what happened in a candid moment earlier today and there was a brazen admission. it wasn't just an admission, it was one of those deal with it, get over it types of issues. and so i think that's really what happened. it really resembles that text exchange back between, you know, i think sondland and taylor. remember when taylor says are you conditioning the military aid based on political investigations and he says call me, and then he comes up with some answer later on.

this is the type of situation that leads one to believe there's more there there in the whistle-blower complaint. and we need to pursue this investigation as vigorously as possible at this point. >> ameesh, take us behind the scenes, if you will. did he take them by surprise this afternoon, and what happened betweenthality statement that happened this afternoon and what he's saying now tonight? >> mick mulvaney's briefing was a surprise to the white house today and it was spreezing for him to say that out on the podium today saying in fact president trump was interested on getting information on the dnc and wanted to pressure ukraine to get that for exchange for military aid. there was a lot of backlash including inside the trump administration. i had a senior department of justice official say to me we had no idea what mick mulvaney

is talking about. the doj is not aware of any sort of withholding of military aid that has anything to do with the doj investigation. and rudy giuliani also said i have no idea what mick mulvaney was talking about. in that span of time muck mill vonny was getting push back from people close to president trump. the problem with mick mulvaney's statement is we have him on camera. so now what you have is the acting chief of staff really saying contradictory things that make president trump look as though he was going after a quid pro quo. the way this white house usually functions someone usually gets punished for that. i'm not saying he's going to lose his job but i can imagine the president is -- >> what do you make of that? >> so i make of the distance that sekulow is trying to create much of what i make of the

distance others are trying to create. everyone knows this is bombshell. there are some things you can't unsee once they happen. mulvaney acknowledging publicly there's a quid pro quo and telling people to deal with it had such a ring of truth to it. prosecutors are used to dealing with contradictory statements. mulvaney speaks candidly not really thinking about it deliberately. and later we have this carefully crafted effort to walk it back. it's pretty clear which one of those statements has the ring of truth to it. and now sekulow and everyone else will try to find some way to distance themselves because what they don't want to do is start to defend the fact there was a quid pro quo. they have so much stake built-up in defending the fact there wasn't one. it's hard to defend a quid pro quo here because it's a crime. >> well, trump's push for ukraine to investigate a discredited conspiracythyry about 2016 was the first of two

requests he made the other for dirt on joe biden and his son hunter. mulvaney tried to strike a difficult balance insisting the freeze on military support wassing on linked to one and not the other. >> so you would say it's fine to ask about the dnc but not about biden? >> that did not happen here. >> no, on the call the president did ask about investigating the bidens. are you saying that the money that was held up that had nothing to do with the bidens? >> the money held up had absolutely nothing to do with the bidens. >> josh, confusion here based on where the day is ending in terms of a statement from mulvaney. but this afternoon it sounded like he was trying to create a distinction saying there was a legitimate quid pro quo if you're talking about investigating the origins of the russia investigation, illegitimate involving the bidens. was that the distinction this afternoon he was trying to

create? >> it was only one thing mick mulvaney walked back today and that was the idea this military condition was consisted on specifically looking into this dnc server and the conspiracy theory in 2016. but he's not walking back the notion restoring this military assistance was tied to getting the ukrainians to investigate corruption. and we know from the parade of officials that have been now been testifying before congress that investigating corruption in ukraine was basically a euphemism in the trump administration for trying to dig up dirt on the bidens, hunter biden that could help the president politically. we know that because rudy giuliani told it to a lot of folks including gordon sondland who testified today. even with this walk back, even if you were to take mulvaney at value, you basically have mick mulvaney and the president in their own words doing most of the democrats work for them by

pretty openly acknowledging that there was a conditional transaction here that democrats have been trying to prove. >> we were also talking about this, gordon sondland said that trump asked him and others to work with rudy giuliani when it came to matters related to ukraine. he described that as the president's explicit direction which sondland said he agreed to follow. sondland says that trump withheld a presidential phone call or white house meeting until ukraine issued a public statement committing to the investigations he was seeking. when it came to that statement sondland said that giuliani, quote, specifically mentioned the 2016 election including the dnc server in burisma, the company linked to hunter biden. through all of this sondland said he understood giuliani spoke for the president. and he said at the time he did not know what was afoot. quote, i did not understand giuliani's agenda might have

also included an effort to prompt ukrainians to investigate vice president biden or his son. congressman, i saw one of your colleagues on your network a short while ago, peter welsh from vermont say it was his impression that sondland had been duped by rudy giuliani and the president. do you agree with that assessment? >> so i can't get into specific testimony, but based on his opening statement we don't know if he was duped or otherwise, but it's true that he basically was directed to go to giuliani who basically was apparently calling the shots on what was required by the ukrainian government to get a meeting and get a phone call and so forth. so i think that this is really important because all along we've been saying that giuliani appears to be running a shadow foreign policy. one that is not necessarily in the best interest of the united states, but what appears to be

the in best interest of his private clients, whether it's donald trump or any of a number of cast of characters, in many cases questionable characters who happen to be his cliepts whether they're in europe or otherwise. >> let me follow up on that because the testimony has certainly leaked into the press you're talking about continues to point to this idea of a shadow foreign policy when it came to ukraine being run to giuliani. mick mulvaney was also asked about that today. he said his response was you may not like giulianis was involved but the president gets to set foreign policy and he gets to choose how to do it. >> that's fine. he can choose whatever he wants to be his foreign emissary. it's what they do. if they are basically acting in the best interest of the united states in accordance with our foreign policy interests, that's one thing. but if they are acting not in the public interest but in favor

of an individual or a client that the expense of the public interest, that's another altogether. for instance with regard to ambassador yovanovitch he publicly was trying to get rid of this ambassador and at the same time he has these clients now we know them to be fruman and parnas who were recently indicted who had reasons for this person to be removed. so this is very bad to say the least. it's very disturbing. and it just promps us to ask more questions and interview more witnesses and review more documents. >> there's also a bigger picture question about the confusion today. mulvaney taking folks by surprise, walking it back. what you're saying you're hearing from folks around trump, does that point to a larger issue in the white house about how prepared or unprepared they are for what's required during an impeachment inquiry like this? >> well, the white house has really been trying to develop

its impeachment inquiry strategy, but they haven't really settled on kpg. that one point they were trying to hire former congressman trey gowdy and so what you have is white house still trying to formulate itself. and i've been talking to attorneys that worked for bill clinton back when he was going through an impeachment inquiry and impeachment process, and he said that white house had a very clear strategy. they hired outside lawyers, had a messaging strategy. they also made sure bill clinton wasn't really thinking about the impeachment inquiry. what you have is president trump really laser focused on this and what you see today is mick mulvaney trying to defend the president but making the surprising announcement that the president was trying to with hold military aid from ukraine because he wanted them to look into the dnc. so because of that you have a really scatter shot strategy that seems to at least not be working for the white house very

well, but of course president trump did say today he was happy with mick vmulvaney's performance. >> thank you all for joining us. appreciate it. and coming up, white house chief of staff mick mulvaney's admission that u.s. aid to ukraine was held up in part of because of politics. but he says no big deal. >> and i have news for everybody, get over it. there's going to be political influence in foreign policy. >> intelligence committee chairman adam schiff says mulvaney's admission makes things much worse for the president. will congressional republicans agree? and as vice president mike pence announces a cease-fire in syria, republicans joined democrats in rebuking the president. >> i simply don't understand why the administration did not explain in advance to erdogan that it's unacceptable for turkey to attack an american ally. >> president trump is calling the cease-fire great news while critics say the damage is done.

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elections have consequences and foreign policy is going to change from the obama administration to the trump administration. and what you're seeing now i believe is a group of mostly career purecrats who are saying you know what i don't like president trump's politics so i'm going to participate in this witch hunt that they're undertaking on the hill. >> welcome back to "hardball." that was acting chief of staff mick mulvaney immediately after admitting u.s. military aid was held up in part to pressure ukraine to investigate democrats. comments he's since tried to walk back. mulvaney's comments undercut president trump's repeated denials there was any quid pro quo on the release of $400 million on military aid, a central focus of the ongoing impeachment inquiry.

speaker nancy pelosi at her weekly news conference again declined to put a time line on the impeachment process. but during a closed door meeting yesterday mcconnell prepared republican senators to be ready quote for an impeachment trial of president trump as soon as thanksgiving. republican senator lisa murkowski of alaska said they were absolutely a concern. >> you don't hold up foreign aid that we had previously appropriated for a political initiative. >> for more i'm joined by democratic congressman david cicilliny of rhode island and republican strategist rick tyler. congressman, i'll start with you. from the tastandpoint of your impeachment inquiry what mick mulvaney said this afternoon and for that matter what he said in the last hour trying to take that back, what does that mean

for your impeachment inquiry? >> well, i think again it's more evidence of the really shocking behavior of this president and maybes of his administration. we should not forget the president has admitted he reached out to a foreign leader in an effort to persuade that foreign leader to interfere in the 2020 election, to help him in his relection by investigating a bogus claim by one of his opponents. we know that undermining our national security, undermining the integrity of our elections, it was a terrible abuse of power. the president admitted this conduct and he then released a transcript of that phone call which confirms he asked for a favor while aid was being held up to ukraine. that was confirmed by a detailed whistle-blower report that details the entire scheme. and now we have mick mulvaney in a press conference saying this is done all the time. it's not. it's illegal, shocking, basis for moving forward with articles of impeachment.

but what we're seeing is overwhelming evidence there was a sophisticated scheme both within the state department and outside the state department to get ukrainians to dig up dirt on a political opponent of the president. >> rick, we played that clip from lisa murkowski, republican senator from alaska saying she did not like what mick mulvaney say this afternoon. you had mitt romney with some critical reactions already. beyond murkowski, beyond romney, do you think other republicans are going to speak up ipa similar fashion about this? >> well, i think we have to watch richard burr. i mean, i think he's got the potential to bring people aboard, but it also has to be the american people. they have to look at this and use their logic and say what mick mulvaney said today from the press podium was exactly right. this was a quid pro quo. the press, by the way, gave him i think ample opportunity. i heard of at least three very clear questions, two of them

which were very clarifying of which he affirmed that the united states or donald trump essentially there was a quid pro quo of foreign aid, our aid to the ukraine for an investigation into a political opponent. i don't know how you get anymore clear than that. i also think mick mulvaney was acting because the administration is so stovepiped, nobody talks to each other. it's now clear the white house, that donald trump's lawyer did not counsel mick mulvaney before he wept out there. it looked like he was running his own strategy which reminds me of a giuliani strategy and now he's had to walk it back but i don't know what he's walking back. what he said was absolutely fundamentally crystal clear, should be clear to everybody. and i'm sure it'll be used in part of this impeachment inquiry. >> congressman, i want to ask you about that line we showed there from mitch mcconnell, a senate majority leader telling

republicans that he thinks as soon as thanksgiving a senate trial could begin. that would mean articles of impeachment at that point being brought to the floor, voted on and presumably passed and then it would go to a senate trial. he's saying that could happen before thanksgiving. does that sound right? >> it sounds very ambitious but i think the speaker has made it very clear that we should tone to work thoroughly and carefully but expeditiously. we worry these threats present a national security threat to the united states. this is president who ptrayed his oath of office so this is deadly serious so we want to make sure this is done right. we're continuing to collect the evidence necessary to kind of fill in the blanks. we have so far heard lots of corroborating evidence.

we want to move forward expeditiously. we already know the essential facts. the president admitted to them. the phone call confirms them, and now a number of people are filling in the blanks and corroborating. this was an elaborate scheme by the president. every single republican should be asked do you think that's okay and if not join us in this effort to hold the president accountable. nobody is above the law including the president of the united states. on th on that vast majority in the senate. i'm getting a sense from their silence a lot of them seem uncomfortable about the phone call, seem uncomfortable with rudy's role, with the general posture towards ukraine. and they seem to be looking for a way to register that discomfort but stop short of saying they support impeachment.

and i'm just wondering what is the white house giving them to work with? anything? >> you mean in terms of talking points? if they want to come out and say i have a problem with this impeachment, it's a middle ground, i have a problem with his conduct but he's repented for that therefore it's not impeachable, is there any way, is there white house giving them any way to find middle ground are politically they can do that, they have to choose. >> normally when you have a political argument there are often good points on both sides and they say here's what you go out and say you hear senators but they're basically saying to their staff i'm not going to go out and say this because it's indefensible.

because they can't do what donald trump does. they can't go out and just flat out lie and flat out say no quid pro quo and then you have the chief of staff on national television and basically admit there's a quid pro quo. so it's disheartening to me that my party cannot confront this and speak forcefully about this as mitt romney did and i give credit to him for doing that. but you also need to hear from his constituents. they're looking at sort of a tipping point. it's like a water fall. you know the water is very slow right up until it gets close to the water fall and over it goes. and i think that's the case of what's going to happen here. >> mulvaney also announced today next year's g-7 gathering of world leaders will be held at trump's personal property. that announcement comes as the president accuses joe biden's family of profiting from public

office because of hunter biden's business dealings in ukraine. but mulvaney argued holding the g-7 wouldn't be a can conflict of interest. >> first of all you're not making any profit and i think we've established that. >> but it's an opportunity. >> i've heard that before. donald trump's brand is probably strong enough as it it is and he doesn't need anymore help on that. it's the most recognizable name in the english language and probably around the world right now. what's the difference between this and what we're talking about the bidens? well, first of all there's no profit here. >> mulvaney said the administration officials looked at ten sites before choosing dural which he called the perfect physical location for the g-7. congressman, i'm curious what is your reaction to that? >> first of all, this is the latest example of the president of it united states using the presidency as a money making

operation. this is one example of the president of the united states using his office to enrich his family, enrich his real estate organization. the american people want to have confidence the elected leaders are acting in their public interest, not in their own personal or financial interest. it's completely unlawful, it violates ethical standards and violates the constitution and constitutes an impeachable offense. the american people are sick and tired of politicians who use their office to make themselves rich, make money. the president does that virtually every day, this is the most repeat example. because foreign powers are going to be required to pay him money to participate in the g-7. this is so brazen and so improper that it likely ought to be part of the impeachment inquiry when the house takes up articles of impeachment. still ahead that temporary

cease-fire in syria comes on the heels -- details on that and more next on "hardball." detaild more next on "hardball." wayfair's got your perfect mattress. whether you're looking for a top-brand at a great price. ready to upgrade. moving in. moving on up. or making big moves. deliveries ship free and come with a 100-night free trial. no matter your budget. or your sleep style. we have quality options for everyone. so search and shop. save and snooze. and rest easy, knowing that we've got your back. literally. that's what you get, when you've got wayfair. so shop now.

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when those guns start shooting they tend to do things, but i will tell you on the behalf the united states i want

to thank turkey. >> that was president trump reacting to the news today of a temporary cease-fire in syria. almost two weeks ago president trump agreed to move u.s. troops out of north eastern syria to clear the way for a turkish military opralgds in the area. this week president trump sought to create distance from the escalating violence that ensued after that decision. >> president erdogan's decision didn't surprise me because he's wanted to do that for a long time. it's a very semicomplicated but not too complicated problem and it's a problem we have very nicely under control. we're not a police force. we're a fighting force. >> today vice president mike pence and secretary pompeo spent four hours negotiating this cease-fire with the president of turkey. >> now a week after turkish forces crossed into syria turkey

and the united states of america have agreed to a cease-fire in syria. it will be a pause in military operations for 120 hours while the united states facilitates the withdrawal of ypg from the affected areas in the safe zone, and once that is completed turkey has agreed to a permanent cease-fire. >> however, moments later the turkish foreign minister told reporters there was no cease-fire but rather a pause responding to the trump administration's announcement a national security expert from the american enterprise institute tweeted this. sets house on fire, calls fire brigade, claims credit. that's just one of many conservative voess slamming the president's decision. that is next. you're watching "hardball." t's n that is next you're watching "hardball. i've always had a knack for finding things... ...colon cancer,to be exact. and i find it noninvasively... no need for time off or special prep. it all starts here...

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welcome back to "hardball." utah senator mitt romney took to

the senate floor today to escoriate the president in the cease-fire. let's watch. >> the announcement today is beingper trayed as a victory. it is far from a victory. serious questions remain about how the decision was reached precipitously withdraw from syria and why that decision was reached. given the initial details of the cease-fire agreement the administration must also explain what america's future role will be in the region. what happens now to the kurds and why turkey will face no apparent consequences. further, the cease-fire does not change the fact that america has abandoned an ally. the decision to abandon the kurds violates one of our most sacred duties. it strikes at american honor. what we have done to the kurds will stand as a bloodstain on the annals of american history. >> in a joint statement issued late this afternoon house speaker nancy pelosi and senate democratic leader chuck schumer slammed the cease-fire writing

this, quote, president trump is flailing. the president's decision to reverse sanctions against turkey for brutally attacking our kurdish partners in exchange for a sham cease-fire seriously undermines the credibility of america's foreign policy and sends a dangerous message to our allies and adversaries alike that our word cannot be trusted. president erdogan has given up nothing and president trump has given him everything. for more i'm joined by robert pearson, former ambassador to turkey and nonmiddle east scholar and that statement we just have from pelosi and schumer the contention is there's a five day pause here and it looks like supposedly during this period the kurds will be removed which was turkey's goal all along. is there more to it than that? >> the kurds abandoned territory

at the request of assistance with the united states. so if anything goes wrong with the withdrawal, it will be on the united states hands to handle it. in addition there was an affirmation we will remove all military forces from syria which is a trumeemendous victory for russians and isis is set loose and nothing is done now about the 160,000, 175,000 refugees that's been created as a result of this conflict so far. >> i think lot of americans who don't follow this day in and day out over the last week have heard a lot about the kurds and the role of helping the kurds when it came to fighting isis the last few years. what now for the kurds? >> their logical next decision is to make whatever arrangement they can with russia and the assad regime, which will amplify russian and syrian and iranian power in the region. i've been trying to come up with good analogy to help people

understand what happened here and the best i can think of is imagine if someone attacked baltimore, and we went and we said we'll give you in exchange for a cease-fire you can have all of maryland. this is essentially what was happening is we've said in an exchange for a cease-fire you can have the military objectives that essentially all the military objectives you want. and this is tremendous defeat. what this cease-fire agreement does is it seals a defeat. it is a tremendous defeat. there's no way to spin it. the only silver lining is hopefully possibly this defeat will result in no further bloodshed as turkey gets what it wants without further bloodshed. we're already getting reports of perhaps sporadic violation of the cease-fire, but getting reports of the violations of the cease-fire already. >> you mentioned what are the itchlics isis set loose could be the events over the last week.

what is the future there? >> well, i think there are 70,000 people in various camps around north eastern syria who are associated with isis. some isis fighters already were in the fight from the first days of this conflict started. and so they are now free to make their way into turkey and into iraq and other countries. they'll take their cells internationally. there's no control over them. the u.s. said that it might be able to attack isis from iraq territory. i think that's a lot more hope than reality. so in fact this is the unaddressed question which will be extremely significant as time goes forward. >> president trump today seemed to echo the turkish president erdogan's views and defend his desire to clean out syrian kurds from the region. take a listen. >> you have a 22-mile strip

after many, many years turkey in all fairness they've had a legitimate problem with it. they had terrorists and a lot of people in there they couldn't have. they suffered a lot of loss of lives also, and they had to have it cleaned out. >> earlier this week images of alleged atrocities by turkish backed fighters were circulated on social media. david, that language there certainly the president using the term cleaned out got a lot of attention today. i think more prodly the political question i'm curious about with you as is the republican reaction to this unusual and in the course of the trump presidency to have so many republicans so vocally displeased with him and doesn't seem to be debating with this or is it? >> i haven't seen a debating yet. of course they were casting this cease-fire defeat as a victory, but the smarter and savvier members of congress are not buying it. there should be and i hope there

will be a set of willing ears -- a set of receptive ears hearing mitt romney's message you played earlier. this has been certainly in the trump presidency the largest policy difference we have seen between congressional republicans and the white house. and i think one of the reason said is the white house decision is so indefensible, it was so sudden, it was so shocking and the results were so immediately catastrophic that even trump-friendly republicans didn't have anywhere to hide on this. >> quickly, david, i'm curious, does this connect in any way? we talk about the politics of it. the fact so many republicans being this vocal, does one meet the other at some point? >> i don't think it will. honestly, i think they'll cast this as a policy difference and impeachment as a completely separate thing. but i do think it should connect because in the ukraine situation, in the syria situation you're seeing a combination of corruption and

unfitness with incompetence that sort of says -- that says to the american people this president is a dangerous individual in the oval office. >> all right david french and ambassador robert piercen, thank you poegt for joining us. up next, paying tribute to a man seen pie many as the moral compress of congress. you're watching "hardball." morl compress of congress you're watching "hardball. of course i have- ever since i started renting from national. because national lets me lose the wait at the counter... ...and choose any car in the aisle. and i don't wait when i return, thanks to drop & go. at national, i can lose the wait...and keep it off. looking good, patrick. i know. (vo) go national. go like a pro.

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welcome back to "hardball." across the country flags are flying at half staff today as the nation mourns the loss of a resounding voice in congress. democratic congressman elijah cummings of maryland, the chairman of the powerful house oversight committee passed away overnight at the age of 68. his office said it was from complications due to long-standing health challenge. he was known for his moral leadership and abiding passion for public service. today colleagues from both sides of the aisle remember the man as we also remember his own words. >> elijah was considered a north star. he was a leader of towering character and integrity. >> we are broken. but we are comforted by his instruction. >> we are better than that. we must stand together with those who we do not like, with those who we disagree with and recognize that we have more in common than we have that separates us.

>> nobody in this congress worked across the aisle better than elijah cummings. >> we respect him because he was good, because of what he fought for he believed in. >> when we're dancing with the angels the question will be asked in 2019 what did we do to make sure we kept our democracy intact? did we stand on the side lines and say nothing? >> up next a good friend and fell fellow house member of the late congress joins us to reflect on the life. reflect on the life ♪

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i only have a minute, 60 seconds forced upon me. i did not choose it. but i know that i must use it, give account if i abuse it, suffer if i lose it. only a tiny little minute, but eternity is in it. >> welcome back to "hardball." that was congressman elijah cummings delivering his very first speech on the floor of the house 23 years ago. and today the country remembers the stalwart of the house. joining me now is friend and colleague of his for the last 15 years. congressman emmanuel cleaver of missouri. congressman, thank you for taking a few minutes in what i'm sure is a difficult day. i want to start with this, one thing that struck me today all

of the tributes pouring in, i noticed some of what i would say the most partisan members of the republican party, his most polar opposites of congressman cummings when it came to politics and ideology offered genuine, heartfelt tributes. i think that might have said something about him. >> i think it did. look, there are some things that death kaept take away with some people, and elijah cummings actually mipsterred to congressman meadows who is antithetical to anything and everything one would believe elijah cummings did and believed but at a time when he was being called a racist elijah cummings public publicly went to his defense. and when president donald trump attacked him verbally, not only him attacked his neighborhood, his city, just think an american president attacks an american

city and an american member of congress. and elijah responded the same way a butterfly does which is to float and do nothing and say nothing. he never responded, and i became more upset perhaps than cummings because i sat down and talked with him on the floor. he had just come over in a wheelchair. it's the first time i'd actually seen him in a wheelchair, and we were talking and i said, look, this guy is wrong. and i now understand it was better to be in a wheelchair on the right road than be in a limousine on the wrong road. and eliemga was on the right road, the road of justice and not just us. and i think republicans not only could see it, but they actually could express it, and they did

it. but we all took a hit today. the congressional black caucus took a hit, the democratic caucus took a hit, congress took a hit. this country took a hit because elijah cummings was a unique individual. he and i had some problems because he was not ordained and he went out preaching. and i told him all the time he was a bootleg preacher and i wept to seminary and he went to law school. i didn't try to practice law but he still went out and practiced the ministry. in fact, he really -- and that's when i really decided elijah cummings had gone too far but we

loved each other, he was like a brother and i really think that god had a unique purpose for him and he served that purpose. we'll never forget him, never forget him. and when i was the chair of the congressional black caucus i had the opportunity to get the highest award. the phoenix award and the caucus voted unanimously to give it to elijah cummings. he always said he didn't deserve it, but you just show a video to him in front of about 5,000 people at an annual dinner and everybody cheered because everybody believed that he deserved it maybe except him. >> thank you for taking a few minutes to remember eliemga cummings, a 23-year veteran of the house the country lost

today. that is "hardball" for now. thank you for being with us. and "all in" with chris hayes starts right now. tonight on "all in." >> the look back to what happened in 2016 certainly was part of the thing he was worried about. >> a white house caught red-handed now cops to a quid pro quo. >> let's be clear what you just described is a quid pro quo. >> we do that all the time with foreign policy. >> tonight the trump legal team stun bide mick mulvaney's admission as a key impeachment witness points the finger to donald trump. >> were you here to salvage a reputation sir? >> i don't have a reputation to salvage. >> then the impeachable defenses keep coming. >> we're going to do the 46th